Ever since the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel by Hamas terrorists, followed by the horrific obliteration bombing of Gaza in response, there is a passage from the Hebrew Bible that has echoed in my mind. It’s what I consider one…
Revisiting ‘natural law’ and gun rights
Two years ago, I wrote an essay that tried to untangle the legal and political issues that evolved over the 20th century that led to the current impasse around guns. There’s no panacea, I argued, but at least we can…
Republicans, Democrats, PHNs and cutting the baby in half
I don’t think I have the passage right. But first, let me explain. The Republican House leadership fell at the beginning of the month when the House approved Matt Gaetz’s motion to vacate the position of speaker of the House….
How hard it is to enter the Kingdom of God!
I’m not a Christian because it makes my life easier; to the contrary, it makes my life harder. It’s easier to fear than it is to love It’s easier to hold grudges than it is to forgive It’s easier to…
Zimmerman case law: a ruler or a mirror?
Twenty years ago this fall, I began my studies at Duke University School of Law. Amid the required first-year classes on Civil Procedure, Contracts, Criminal Law, and Legal Research and Writing was a typical seeming class on Torts, taught by…
Am I Emergent-Baptist?
I minister on the periphery of Baptist life, trying to start a progressive Baptist church in the heart of the old empire. I’m old enough to remember well the Baptist wars of decades ago, and yet new enough to ministry…